A girl. Gluten free. Loves food. Will travel.

gluten-free grill season: jalapeño poppers

We all need a couple of recipes up our sleeves that we can whip up in no time. No thought required. You can head to the store and not even need a list.

Three simple ingredients:

jalapeños, cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds and membrane with a spoon

cream cheese, softened

bacon, cut in half or thirds, depending on length (you want the pieces to wrap all the way around)

Let’s make Jalapeño Poppers!

The Angry Orchard cider is of course optional, but does enhance the flavor — it’s just a beverage on the side, don’t worry, it’s not going IN the poppers. ;)

No quantities for this one — that’s the beauty of it. You can make a small plate full or a platter full. (FYI: we typically use 10 jalapeños or 20 halves, 10 pieces of bacon cut in half, and 1 package of cream cheese, just to give you an idea. Just add on to that to feed the crowd.)

Spoon the softened cream cheese into the jalapeños. Go ahead, be generous here.

Wrap them up tight with the bacon and secure with a toothpick. I won’t lie — this wasn’t my best work, they should be totally covered so when the bacon shrinks up on the grill, you don’t have cream cheese everywhere!

Put them on the grill (avoiding direct heat/flame) and cook those little buddies until the bacon is nice and crispy. Be patient, it will take 20-30 minutes.

*Try* to wait until they are cool to dig in.

PS: Mamasita says she only makes them with herb cream cheese now — she’s always thinking. Feel free to add your own fresh herbs to the cream cheese!